BACKGROUND:
At A Glance Author The Old Fellah Contact The Old [email protected] When A month ago Artist Sarah & Victoria Studio The Piercing Urge Location Prahran, Melbourne, Australia I am nearly 60 years old and live in Melbourne, Australia. In many respects I'm very conservative, bordering on the ultra-conservative. However, in other ways I consider myself to be 'hip' and up with the modern culture of the 21st Century.
I also have a theory that, at about my age after going through menopause or male menopause, most people finally fulfil fantasies that they've had for ages. With some people, it's getting a strange sex aid; for others it's going bungy jumping; for some it may be buying a new sports car.
In my case, I have always got a strange turn-on from seeing people with unusual or multiple piercings, particularly earrings. In the early 1960s, it became mainstream for women to pierce their ears and I immediately knew that, for me, this was a form of titillation. In the seventies, when it was the fashion to pierce nostrils, this became something I loved to look out for and, in recent decades, as women started to pierce more and more of their body I became more and more excited.
September 1965 was the first time that I saw a male with a pierced ear and I realised that it wasn't only a sexual thing; even pierced males could excite me. Actually, the person involved was someone who used to go to school with one of my brothers. The date of September 1965 doesn't have any significance in itself, nor does the person who happened to be wearing the earring, except that there is certainly significance in the fact that both the date and name are etched in my memory forever!
I tried to keep my fetish a secret but I really don't know that I was particularly successful. I suspect that one of my brothers had a similar obsession that he also tried to hide but not completely successfully. In my case, I know that there are sometimes signs. For example, friends tell me that when I'm walking down the street and see an unusual piercing (on either a female or a male), I'll usually turn my head to take a second look.
Some 12 or so years, ago, I wrote the first draft of a novel (unpublished) and I've been working on it, on and off, ever since. It's a book designed for a teenage readership and tells the story of a young man from the late 20th/early 21st century, who falls through a time warp and ends up 110 years in the past. The story initially looks at how people reacted to his strange fashions and how he primarily ended up in a lunatic asylum. Because it's me that wrote the story, the main thing that unnerves people in the 19th Century are his multiple earrings. In fact, his facial jewellery and the facial and body jewellery of his late 20th/early 21st Century friends, figure prominently right throughout the story. I have often wondered how much of a give-away to my obsession this part of the story was.
FIRST STAGE:
2004 has turned out to be a milestone year for me, in many respects! On the negative side, after years of excellent health, I have had a number of problems recently. On the positive side, two things have happened: firstly, after years of working under extreme pressure, I took the plunge and changed my job and I've never been happier or calmer! Secondly, I've given in to my fetish and I finally have multiple piercings � and I love them!
In some respects, I wish that I'd had the courage to have done this earlier. However, I well realise that I wouldn't have been able to have done it without:
� Having gone through male menopause and having come to the
conclusion that after 59 years of worrying about what society thinks, I now want to do things for myself and don't really care what anyone else thinks;
� Having the sense of humour to put up with all the rumours that are now spreading, that because I'm wearing facial and body jewellery, I must be gay and that I've finally come out of the closet;
� Having been forced to think of the future because of ill health;
� Having had a change of job and, subsequently, a somewhat changed lifestyle that better accommodates piercings that can be seen by others;
� Having come to the realisation that piercings are much more acceptable today.
About two month's ago, I was due to go out with my nephew and his fiance, to celebrate my nephew's birthday. I decided to 'stir them up' by buying and wearing a magnetic earring that doesn't need a pierced ear. However, the reaction of the lady in the jewellery shop was quite remarkable � she was at a loss to understand why I would want to buy something as silly as a magnetic earring and she couldn't understand why I didn't get my ear pierced. I walked out of the shop without my magnetic earring. However, the following morning, I woke suddenly at about two o'clock, having come to the dramatic decision, during my sleep, that I WOULD get my ear pierced and that I'd do it that very day!
I left my part-time work just after lunch and went into town to get my ear pierced. Strangely, this wasn't as easy as I had first thought because, unlike 10 or so years ago, chemists are no longer offering an ear piercing service as a matter of course. That's when I first realised that things had changed somewhat and that earrings in the lobes are not a mainstream piercing anymore, particularly for the teenagers and twenty year-olds who are now piercing anything OTHER than the ear lobe. I soon began to realise that single earrings on lobes on males were, perhaps, now more commonplace for those in their 40s, 50s and 60s, and this thought increased my determination to have it done.
After trying six or seven shops, I eventually found a chemist with a body piercing parlour that appeared to be attached. However, I soon realised that the connections between the chemist and the piercing parlour were somewhat tenuous. However, I was at that place and, so, I decided that this would be where I would have my ear pierced. Nevertheless, there were problems, the main one being that the young bloke who pierced me, seemed to be used to piercing every conceivable part of the body other than the ear lobe. He knew what he was doing as far as piercing went but he was not able to explain things to my satisfaction. He told me that he would be using a needle rather than a gun and, when pressed, explained that this was a matter of hygiene. He did not explain the great differences in the jewellery initially used after a gun piercing and after a needle piercing. Actually, I ended up with a 14ga piercing but with jewellery that was really designed for the lip and not the ear lobe. The bar was as long as 18mm, with a ball on the end that screwed in, rather than having a clip on the back. It could only be removed professionally. Worse, the ball was huge and, because of the size of the bar, flapped around in an ungainly manner. I now knew that I had ended up at the wrong place and I wasn't happy!
The next day I went back and, after hours of messing about, including two trips to an associate shop 2� blocks away, I finally ended up with a smaller ball with a nicer stone. This still wasn't entirely what I wanted but it was an adequate compromise.
Just after the piercing, I bought jewellery that I like and have had the original bar and ball replaced by a professional at another parlour, one that was recommended to me; that is, The Piercing Urge in Prahran. That recommendation turned out to be right � I'm very happy with all they've done for me.
Encouragingly, my original piercing healed very quickly and, after just four weeks, I was wearing my new jewellery. This is despite the fact that both studios had earlier told me that this wouldn't really be possible for about three months. I've always known that I heal quickly!
I now usually wear a "pirate earring" about 3mm thick, except were it actually goes through the ear, and it's about 25mm in diameter; it's silver and has a lovely, ornate, bevilled pattern. However, when I'm at work, I wear a small, square stud with four tiny imitation diamonds. I love both of these pieces of jewellery and I think they suit me! Importantly, they're both so much more comfortable than my original stud.
I now find it hard to believe how uncomfortable the original thing was but I didn't have anything to compare it with and I thought that that was the way things were.
Recently, I've bought a third earring that I plan to wear only when I want to be provocative and show off. This is a thin 'gypsy' ring, about 50mm in diameter.
SECOND STAGE:
I had only been pierced for a few days when I came to realise that one piercing was not enough to satisfy the 'new' me and that I would soon have to have multiple piercings. Only two weeks after having my ear pierced, I visited The Piercing Urge and made an appointment to have both my nipples done. I now have 10ga rings in each nipple. The left ring is sealed with a large blue bead and there's a green one on the right ring. I absolutely love 'bluey' and 'green boy'!
My nipple piercings are now a month old. I'm very impressed with the service, care and attention that I'm getting from The Piercing Urge. The girls took a lot of time to make sure that the position of the piercings was just right! They made the holes with great care! They're now giving me excellent back-up and after-sales service, including an unsolicited follow-up phone call. Thanks, Sarah and Victoria!
It was recommended that I wash my nipples with a special antiseptic for 14 days and that I then replace the antiseptic with a salt-water solution. I was amazed at how quickly I was healing and, after only four days of antiseptic, I felt I was already ready for the salt-water. I saw Sarah at The Piercing Urge and, after an inspection, she agreed. I've been off the salt for some time now and things are going well!
Before making my appointment for my second piercings, I challenged two of my friends to also have their nipples done. I'm not surprised that one of my friends said "yes" and the other "no". However, I am amazed that the one I expected to say 'yes' said "no" and vice versa. Stephen: I love your new piercings too, although your jewellery is quite different to anything I would have chosen but that just shows our individuality. James: thanks for coming with us and giving us support; I know you had definite fantasies of your own that you placed in the hands of a third party and these were fulfilled a week ago - the 10ga bars on both of your nibbles are also impressive.
In the past, people have told me that Body Modification was liberating but I never fully understood what that meant. As soon as I got my ear pierced, I began to comprehend. I am no longer a slave to convention and to what other people think. I've done what I want to do, simply to please � me!
For the first time that I can remember, I can now look at my body (or parts of it, at least) without revulsion. I now love looking at my ear and my nipples!
On the day that Stephen and I had our nipples done, we both later met up with a friend of Stephen's. Prior to meeting, all Stephen had told her was that he had a surprise to show her. We arranged to get together on a train on which she was already travelling and when we got on we soon realised that she was sitting opposite a little old lady (not so little, really) who was making it her life's ambition to be a part of every private conversation within a kilometre's radius. Stephen soon discreetly opened his shirt to show Louise his new lancelings. 'L.o.l's' reaction was: "What have you got in there? A pet rat?" Hmm!
A few days after getting my breast modified, I wore a shirt that was a little tighter than anything I'd worn since I'd had my nipples done; my left breast was camouflaged by the shirt pocket but I could clearly make out the shape of my right ring through the shirt and it was wonderful. When I was on the tram [North American translation = streetcar], I pulled the shirt tight and daydreamed that others could also make out the shape of the ring under the shirt � fat chance � but one can muse.
I don't know what my next Body Modification will be but, I'm enjoying new fantasies and thinking about all sorts of possibilities. Perhaps it will be a nipple shield; perhaps I will have my septum done; perhaps .....; perhaps ..... Who knows what the future will bring? All I do know is that:
LIFE IS GOOD!